Genesis3d is
a Wild Tangent product. Please visit the Genesis3d
web site for more information.

Introduction

Genesis3d is
a 3D rendering engine that target the independent game developer market. Itcomes in a package
including a SDK (Software Development Kit) with binaries and sourcecode (C/C++ platform),
a set of tools described below, a demo software (GDemo) and aplayable demo
(Gtest), both with source code. The Genesis3d package is released under an"open source
project" license. Please read the license included in the package. An active
developer's
community you can find on the Genesis3d web site supports the open source project.

The current
version of this package is 1.1. No future version of this package is forecasted
so far.However,
3 other official projects are issued directly or indirectly from Gensis3D:WildTangent
Web Driver, Jet3D and the latest
Destiny3D.

Description
of the Genesis3d package

The Genesis3d
SDK (Software Development Kit) contains the dll files that allow you to
developyour
own 3D application. It also includes the 3D rendering engine in a Visual C++
project form.This VC++ project
is made of the whole source code and libraries that Eclipse used to compile
theengine.
What does this mean for you? The ability to modify the Genesis3d engine to improve
orcustomize
it according to your needs (please, read the included license about engine modifications).Source
code location:
..\Genesis3d\Open Source\Source.Binaries
location: ..\Genesis3d.

Actor Studio
(AStudio.exe) is a tool that allows you to convert the actors you created with3DStudio Max
(v2.5 or 3.0) or other 3D modeling software in the Genesis3d actor file format(.act). You also
can include motions, skins and materials.Source
code location: ..\Genesis3d\Open Source\Tools\mkactor.Binaries
location: ..\Genesis3d.

Actor Viewer
(ActView.exe) allows you to visualize the Genesis3d actors and to play theiranimations.Source
code location: ..\Genesis3d\Open Source\Tools\ActView.Binaries
location: ..\Genesis3d.

Texture Packer
(tpack.exe) allows you to edit a Texture Library (.TXL files; the default texturelibrary is located
in "..\Genesis3d\Levels\gedit.txl"). You can also drag and drop new BMP texturesinside Texture
Packer in order to add your own textures and create your own TXL texture libraries.Source
code location: ..\Genesis3d\Open Source\Tools\TPack.Binaries
location: ..\Genesis3d,
..\Genesis3d\Levels (for TXL files)

World Editor
(gedit.exe) is the world builder editor. It allows you to create the virtual
3D worldyour
application will load. You will build the 3D world geometry, set the lights,
actors, models,program
their different motions... etc.Source
code location: ..\Genesis3d\Open Source\Tools\Fusion2,
..\Genesis3d\Open Source\Tools\TPack.Binaries
location: ..\Genesis3d.

How
do I go from Genesis3d to my 3D Game?

You will need
to create actors, textures, 3D worlds, music and to program the "logic".To build actors,
you will need a 3D modeling software. The most obvious solution is 3DStudio
Max2.5
or 3.0 because Genesis3d have some 3DS Max/Genesis3d file converters. The second
reason isbecause
3DS Max is one of the best 3D modeling/animation software on the market (this
is myopinion). A cheaper
solution is to visit Klaus Zerbe's web site. There, you will find hisTrueSpace/Genesis3d
file converter and a free TrueSpace1.04 version modeling software. You canalso use other
3D modeling software like MilkShape3D or Animation Master.

To create your
textures, I would recommend using PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro. They have to be8bit (256 colors)
bmp format with a resolution of 32x32, 64x64, 128x128 or 256x256 pixels.

You will use
GEdit to build your maps or levels. GEdit is generating BSPs map. BSP's are
mainly useto
create indoor maps. It doesn't include terrain generation for outdoor scene,
but when you will beexperienced
enough, you will find some "tricks" to build areas that looks like outdoor scenes.However, you
can use some tools like GenSurf to create terrain for Genesis3D or, if you are
a C++guru,
have a look at GenScape, a C++ implementation of terrain for Genesis3D.

Then, you will
need a programming API to develop the program itself. Even if a few "wrappers"
usingother
platforms exist out there, I recommend you to use Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 or
later (noticethat
the earlier versions of VC++ will not work properly with Genesis3d). Wrappers
are available forBorland
C++Builder and an ActiveX implementation of Genesis3D allows you to use it in
Visual Basicfor
example.

GTest is an
example project that covers most of the aspects of Genesis3d programming. Thisproject is located
in ..\Genesis3d\src. You will find also a few examples, smaller and maybe betterfor beginners,
like ProjectX or ProjectZ in the Genesis3d
forum.